Claiming for spoiled freezer food after power cut.

Head_The_Ball

Hi, what advice can you offer on the best way to make a claim for spoiled freezer food following a power cut while we were away on holiday.

We returned from a week away (Thursday to Thursday) last night to find that something had tripped both ring main electrical circuit breakers in our house.

Fortunately our boiler is on a separate circuit so the heating was still working.

Checking our Sky+ box failed recordings showed that the power cut occurred sometime between 11:00 Friday pm and 8:00 Sunday pm so the power had been off for at least 94 hours and possibly a lot longer.

Both our fridge freezers were affected. There was little in the fridges to spoil but both freezers were almost full and all the food will have to be thrown out as it has completely defrosted and is at about 12 degrees C, the minimum temperature we kept the house at while away.

We are insured with Aviva via Quotemehappy for freezer contents so presumably an insurance claim will be straightforward.

I can photograph the full freezers and the contents as we remove them and make an itemised list and a best estimate of the total value.

We don't have receipts but can show regular purchases from supermarkets on credit card bills.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks.

PS: We don't yet know what caused the circuit breakers to trip as there is nothing obvious.

Quentin

Makre sure claim will be cost effective after excess and increased premiums for next 3/5 years.

Do dummy quotes with and without the claim and reduced no claims in your history to see what difference it makes to your premium

Blibble

As above, check that the claim is economical to pursue before contacting your insurer, as if you withdrawn the claim after notifying them it may still load your future premiums for up to 5 years.

Out of interest, how big are your freezer(s)?! Even with Christmas turkey, gammon, and veg, we can't have had more than £200 worth of stuff in there!

[Deleted User]

When I worked on DWP Crisis Loans it was amazing how many people lost £200 worth of food in a freezer just after they got their benefit

I used to ask them the make and model of freezer and most of the time they just put the phone down!

To the OP - if you take photos I'm sure you will be fine but as Blibble said, check to see the impact on premiums before you claim.